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Ten Thoughts On A Whiff In Pittsburgh

1. Free Jake Gardiner time again?
: Time to re-ignite the Gardiner discussion, it would appear, after the talented but erratic young blueliner was a healthy scratch Wednesday night prior to an ugly 6-5 shootout loss to the Penguins.

Gardiner had a very difficult outing against Columbus on Monday, and head coach Randy Carlyle elected to re-insert Paul Ranger. Instead of having a solidifying effect, Ranger was part of a Leaf defence that was consistently out-of-position and prone to turnovers on a night that, arguably, showed an even worse side of the Leafs than the embarrassing loss to the Blue Jackets.

After 25 games, the Leafs have one set defensive pairing in Dion Phaneuf (plus-13) and Carl Gunnarson (plus-five) that basically plays all the hard minutes, and after that it's a grab bag.

Ranger, at this point, isn't close to the top four defenceman Carlyle and GM Dave Nonis suggested he might be, and Mark Fraser, largely because of injuries, hasn't been close to the player he was last season.

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But Gardiner continues to befuddle. At times, he's shown flashes of the form that got everyone so excited last spring in the playoffs, but his offensive numbers remain surprisingly low (no goals, five assists). The Leafs, and Carlyle, just can't seem to decide whether they like his game or don't, and whether they'll commit to him as a regular or not.

2. You can see why they signed him
: David Bolland went down to injury Nov. 2 in Vancouver. With him, the Leafs were 10-4-1. Without him, they're now 4-5-1 after Wednesday night's loss.

Bolland was one forward who the Leafs could count on to do the right thing in the defensive zone, and to make simple plays to relieve pressure. Without him, they've regularly turned into the punching bag that they were against the Penguins.

3. When contributing just isn't enough
: One of the bright spots this season has been the play of Marlies captain Trevor Smith. In three game earlier this month when the club was missing three centres, Smith responded with five points in three games including a one goal, two assist performance against the Islanders.

His reward? He didn't play Monday against Columbus and got five shifts against the Penguins on Wednesday.

Newcomer Peter Holland is following a similar pattern. He was scratched against the Blue Jackets and played only seven shifts and 4:55 against the Pens.

4. Peculiar choices
: On Saturday in the shootout win over the Capitals, David Clarkson missed, James Van Riemsdyk scored and Joffrey Lupul potted the winner.

So how did Carlyle follow up on Wednesday against Pittsburgh in Penguin goalie Jeff Zatkoff's first NHL shootout?

First went Tyler Bozak, who hasn't been playing much of late because of injury. Bozak failed on a fairly routine five-hole attempt. Then Clarkson missed again, and badly, on a backhand move. That was it.

No JVR, no Phil Kessel, no Nazem Kadri.

Interesting.

5. Don't book those tickets for Sochi yet
: Both goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and defenceman Kris Letang were viewed as possible Olympians this year, but neither looks like they've got much of a chance to be selected for Mike Babcock's team at the moment.

Fleury was horrible against the Leafs, particularly in playing the puck. His season numbers are solid, but nowhere near good enough to erase memories of his lamentable playoff outings the past two years.

Letang, meanwhile, has really struggled while fighting through injuries.He had three points against the Leafs, including a goal that was deflected past Jonathan Bernier by Phaneuf, but was still a minus-two. His giveaway on Kessel's second period goal was nightmarishly weak, just not the kind of error you can make and hope to get picked for the Olympics.

Making it harder for Letang is that as a right-hand shooting defenceman, he's up against stiff competition.

6. Clearly Sid the Kid's Turn:
Four years ago in Vancouver the thinking was not to give Sidney Crosby the captaincy of Team Canada, partly to take the pressure off him, and veteran defenceman Scott Niedermayer wore the "C."

Crosby, of course, scored the gold-medal winning goal.

This time around, it's hard to imagine anyone but Crosby being the captain.

7. Strength to Weakness
: Toronto's penalty killing, second best in the NHL last season and very good earlier this fall, has sunk to 20th in the NHL.

Against the Penguins, the Leaf penalty killers could barely touch the puck.

8. Heavy Workload for the Teenager
: Morgan Rielly skated 21:20 against the Pens, and that was without a single second of penalty killing time in a game in which the Leafs spent a lot of time shorthanded.

That's the most ice time Rielly has had this season. Less than two weeks ago he was a healthy scratch for two games, but Wednesday was an indication that Carlyle is liking his game more and more.

It sure seems unlikely the Canadian junior team has much chance of getting Rielly next month.

9. Beating Up the Weaklings:
With a visit to Montreal on Saturday and then a tough one at home Tuesday against the very strong San Jose Sharks, suddenly the Leafs visit to Buffalo on Friday to play the dreadful Sabres looks like a must-win game if the Leafs want to avoid a slow slide down the Eastern Conference standings.

On the last visit two weeks ago, Ted Nolan was coaching his first game and the Leafs were beaten 3-1. Since then, the Sabres have scored only six goals in five games and have lost them all.

Matt Moulson scored the lone Buffalo goal in a loss to the Habs on Wednesday, ending an 11-game goal-less drought after scoring twice in his Sabres debut after a trade from Long Island.

If there's such a thing as a must win in November, this would be just that for the Leafs.

Gauthier has a solid shot of playing for Brent Sutter in the world juniors next month.

On a less positive note, the first pro season for another former first round pick, Tyler Biggs, is going terribly. Biggs has one goal and no assists in 17 games for Steve Spott's Marlies. David Broll, up with the Leafs earlier this season, has yet to score a goal.

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